Roger Francis Hamilton Maxwell (born 21 March 1941) is a former New Zealand politician. He was an MP from 1984 to 1999, representing the National Party.

Early life

Maxwell was born in South Canterbury. He obtained his tertiary education at Lincoln College and at

Massey University Massey University ( mi, Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa) is a university based in Palmerston North, New Zealand, with significant campuses in Albany and Wellington. Massey University has approximately 30,883 students, 13,796 of whom are extramural or ...

. From 1967, he owned a farm in the

Taranaki region Taranaki is a region in the west of New Zealand's North Island. It is named after its main geographical feature, the stratovolcano of Mount Taranaki, also known as Mount Egmont. The main centre is the city of New Plymouth. The New Plymouth Dist ...

and studied rural valuation.

Political career

Maxwell was a member of the Ashburton branch of the Young Nats from 1963. He chaired the

Urenui Urenui is a settlement in northern Taranaki, in the North Island of New Zealand. It is located on State Highway 3 close to the shore of the North Taranaki Bight, 13 kilometres east of Waitara and 6 km south-west of Mimi. The Urenui River ...

branch of the National Party from 1969, and was the Taranaki electorate chairman from 1977 to 1983. He organised the Taranaki electorate campaigns for the and s for David Thomson. He was first elected to Parliament in the 1984 election in Taranaki, when he succeeded Thomson. When the National Party won power in the 1990 election, Maxwell became the Minister of Business Development, the Associate Minister of Employment, and the Associate Minister of Immigration. In 1993, he became the (full) Minister of Immigration. In the 1996 election, the Taranaki electorate was merged with the King Country electorate, and the combined Taranaki-King Country electorate was taken by King Country MP (and

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

)

Jim Bolger James Brendan Bolger ( ; born 31 May 1935) is a New Zealand retired politician of the National Party who was the 35th prime minister of New Zealand, serving from 1990 to 1997. Bolger was born to an Irish immigrant family in Ōpunake, Taran ...

; Maxwell instead contested the New Plymouth electorate, but was defeated by

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

Harry Duynhoven Harry James Duynhoven (born 1955) is a New Zealand politician and member of the New Zealand Labour Party. He was the mayor of the city of New Plymouth and surrounding districts from 2010–2013. He was a Member of Parliament for the New Plym ...

. Maxwell remained in Parliament as a list MP, but lost his ministerial portfolios in the reshuffle made necessary by National's coalition with

New Zealand First New Zealand First ( mi, Aotearoa Tuatahi), commonly abbreviated to NZ First, is a nationalist and populist political party in New Zealand. The party formed in July 1993 following the resignation on 19 March 1993 of its leader and founder, Winst ...

. He retired at the 1999 election.

Honours

In the 2004 Queen's Birthday Honours, Maxwell was appointed a

Companion of the Queen's Service Order The Queen's Service Order, established by royal warrant of Queen Elizabeth II on 13 March 1975, is used to recognise "valuable voluntary service to the community or meritorious and faithful services to the Crown or similar services within the pu ...

for public services.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maxwell, Roger New Zealand National Party MPs Members of the Cabinet of New Zealand 1941 births Living people New Zealand list MPs Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives New Zealand MPs for North Island electorates Lincoln University (New Zealand) alumni Massey University alumni Companions of the Queen's Service Order